ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the image of nakayoshi, friendly companionship, as an ideal that seems to be shared by older people and, somewhat differently, by today's young people. It presents a case study meticulously, and unfolds Eri's story of divorce and remarriage, her parents' resulting shame, and the ways she and her second husband handled the situation. When she finally divorced her aloof husband, it was a source of family shame for Eri's parents, but Eri and her new spouse in their self-assertion as a couple offered an alternative reading for the events and disarmed the emotional norm of "shame" with humor. Using humor to disarm an offensive social mechanism is one way in which the spouses protect their own welfare. The chapter explores how the interpretation employed by the younger generation serves them in establishing themselves as a married couple, and how it helps them to create a protected space for themselves.
